A year ago today, our family was shocked to learn that our cousin Beth had passed unexpectedly over night.Although she was my wife Melanie’s cousin, Beth’s personality and caring nature had endeared her to me and to m y children, as well. But that was who Beth was, she drew you in. …

Ten years ago today, Tattoosday was born out of BillyBlog.A decade and 2078 posts later, we are approaching 4 million page views and still puttering along.Alex McWatt at Three Kings helped me ring in my 50th year on earth, and 10th year of Tattoosday with this custom-designed eagle with a New York City theme.Stay tuned as we celebrate our tenth year with lots of fun stuff, including visits from some old friends.Thanks to you, our loyal readers and contributors, who have been…

Anyone familiar with the jacaranda tree knows how beautiful they can be. It is this time of year in Southern California, in the months of May and June, when they explode into bursts of purple blossoms that are simply breathtaking.It only seemed fitting that my wife Melanie, who loves jacarandas, feature them in her next tattoo, and this was the end result:Here’s a closer look:Melanie elaborated a little more on what inspired her to fill her arm with jacarandas:…

Well, it’s Friday the 13th, and I’m travelling today, but I though it would be cool to go back five years, to 2012, and revisit the time I got one of my Friday the 13th tattoos:People familiar with Tattoosday have seen my Friday the 13th tattoo posts. [As of 2012], Melanie has two and I have one, and I remember watching enviously when she got her first (here), but it was her…

Yesterday we shared our late cousin Beth’s tattoo (here).After her funeral, my wife Melanie was talking with her tattoo artist Thomas “Thomi Hawk” Hickey, and she knew she wanted a new tattoo paying tribute to her cousin.Although she would have loved to have something from Thomi, it was logistically challenging, as we do not have a car and Thomi works out of New Jersey. The idea for a tribute evolved to include several ideas and, eventually, Melanie knew what she …